A dazzling image of Martian ice at its North Pole

Yesterday we discussed the possible discovery of water on Mars near the equator. Today, I want to take a closer look at the poles.

Scientists have known for some time that large amounts of water ice existed at the pole, enough to fill several Lake Michigans at least.

Now we can get one of our best looks yet at the ice in the North Pole region, thanks to a camera aboard the Mars Express spacecraft in orbit around the red planet. Be sure to click the image below for a larger view.

Martian North Pole under ice. (ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum))

Previous analysis of Mars has found polar caps covered by frozen water and carbon dioxide ice in winter and spring, but by this time of year the carbon dioxide has evaporated into the Martian atmosphere, leaving only water ice behind.

If we ever decide to try and colonize Mars, it’s good to know there will be ample resources there with which to work.

The delegates from the IOC are concerned about the weather cooperating 6 months from now when it will be winter (i.e. how much ice will still remain, etc.) The Martian weathermen are saying statistical models predict plenty of snow and ice for the season, but then they mention something about uncertainties in the long-range models. If only they had an FSI there to sort this all out.

I find the figure of “several Lake Michigans” startling. The Great Lakes are pretty deep, and I’d always had the impression that the Martian polar caps are almost completely seasonal… making me assume that at their thickest they’re still pretty thin.

Also, if you look at the extreme left of the image you can see a smaller channel flowing into that valley, as if it held flowing water at one time. But what is strange is: that same channel apparently made a detour to avoid flowing into another chunk of the big valley. You can see this along the entire left hand edge of the image!